As a general rule of thumb, athletes often find that the more they invest -- be it time, energy, or money -- the harder it is to quit.
It's a lesson being reinforced to members of the Chicago Fire Academy U-18 team, who are in the midst of a special run in the U.S. Soccer Development Academy playoffs. On Thursday, the side faces top-seeded Montreal Impact in a national semifinal matchup in Carson, Calif., with a chance to play for a championship on the line. When they reflect on the experience in the coming months or years, they'll know their efforts are representative of more than just the 90 minutes between the opening and final whistles.
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Already a team filled with top talent, the group has thrived in 2014-15, in the opinion of the technical staff, because of its persistent "we-not-me" mindset. After finishing the regular season on a high note with a conference title, Academy Director Larry Sunderland settled on an approach he thought would help raise the investment level and see the team reach its full potential in the postseason: by having them team take a significant role in developing a game plan. Through training, trust and mutual understanding, Sunderland challenged the group to devise the formation and tactics necessary to get the result needed at this time of year, when it's win or go home.
The player-focused strategy is aligned with the Academy's goal of training players to think rather than to react, and to understand the significance of their tactics in the same way the Chicago Fire First Team does on a daily basis.
"I think this is a great way to get the players more involved in the process," said Gonzalo Segares, the former Fire standout defender turned Academy assistant coach. "This is much better than them sitting through a meeting and not fully knowing their investment level."
The process was fully put to the test in the final game of group play against the New York Red Bulls. Two wins had put the Fire in prime position to advance with a win or draw. A win for the favored Red Bulls, however, and the Fire's season would come to an end. Fire players Cameron Lindley, Mauricio Pineda and Sawyer Jackman were tasked with leading the team in discussions on how to attack their opponent. Lindley and Pineda, in particular, shared knowledge of the Red Bulls gained from competing at the international level against several players who would be in a Red Bulls shirt that day.
"With Larry putting trust in us three, the rest of the team bought into what we wanted and worked harder for each other than we did throughout the season," Lindley said.
Sawyer agreed: "The team was more willing to listen because it was coming from peers rather than coming from another coach."
All seemed good come kickoff as the Fire jumped to an early 1-0 lead on a goal by Lindley. But trouble arose for the Fire in the second half when their side was reduced to 10 men for the final 40 minutes -- perhaps requiring a re-write of the game plan assembled in the days prior. Still, the match ended in a 2-2 draw, sending the Red Bulls home and the Fire on to a quarterfinal road match with Houston.
The same process was followed and a similar result was earned, with the Fire winning a wild 4-3 affair to advance to championship weekend in Los Angeles. Whether the weekend ends in championship glory for the Fire remains to be seen, but there's little doubt that the student-turned-teacher approach has created the sense of investment and belief necessary to make it happen.
